


Paper Lanterns.

by fate_incomplete



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2012-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-11 13:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fate_incomplete/pseuds/fate_incomplete
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River and Eleven watch a lantern festival. There is nothing else she would wish for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paper Lanterns.

River watched as the darkness was lit up with thousands of tiny pinpricks of light. Thousands of random wishes and dreams set afloat in the night sky in an almost forgotten belief of some higher power waiting to grant them.

"I watched one of the first lantern festivals on earth, thousands of years ago," the Doctor said quietly beside her.

River just hummed in reply, transfixed by the sight of the paper lanterns drifting ever upwards. Each individual light caught in eddies of air, swirling, flickering.

"There were only a handful of people back then, tiny villages, all praying to gods that didn't exist for the hope of something better."

The sounds of thousands of voices drifted on the night air to where they stood on a hilltop, overlooking the festival below. She didn't know if there was really anyone out there who could grant the wishes and dreams of all those at the festival, not that it mattered. The hope for something better was a powerful thing in itself.

He held up a lantern for her as she lit her own flickering flame.

She didn't send a prayer to some absent god, didn't make a wish, or follow any sort of forgotten tradition like the thousands of people below. River set her lantern to drift on the wind with only sorrowed thoughts and memories of the Timelord standing next to her.

She watched as her own lantern drifted higher, caught in a gentle breeze as it joined the others, to become lost against the background of black overhead. The flickering lights of the lanterns joining the stars.

All River wanted to do, was close that ever so slight distance between their hands as they stood side by side, to wrap her fingers in his, and never let go. Yet she didn't. This wasn't her Doctor, not yet, not for him.

He was so young, with little idea of just what was ahead for them, of who she really was.

Instead she stood silently by his side, watching the dreams of thousands drift, lost amongst the stars, as she felt her own dream slip through her fingers. All she could do was watch as he smiled at her, before turning and walking back to the TARDIS. She followed him, as she always would, for all that smile promised for him, for all that was still to come for him.

She pushed aside her maudlin thoughts, not one to feel sorry for herself. She went out of her way to have these moments, not just for him, but for every memory, every bit of frustration, and joy, all the adventure that had filled her life, for however long it could last.

Her dream may be almost over, but she had lived it. Had truly lived, and loved, every moment of it. She would wish for nothing else.


End file.
